What tenets of Romanticism are explained in the poem? What techniques are used to do so? How are the ways of thinking of this period evident in this poem?
Imagination is explained in the poem. Keats focuses on the importance of using the creative mind as an escape from daily routine, however, if it is used too often, it becomes stale and of no use. Keats also comments that one should let the imagination free ever once in a while to gain new experiences so that when it returns, it will inform, illuminate and transform the individual in a different way, “Then let winged Fancy wander/ Through the though still spread beyond her:/ Open wide the mind’s cage-door,/ She’ll dart forth, cloudward soar./ O sweet Fancy! Let her loose;/ Summer’s joys are spoilt by use”.
In the lines, “At a touch sweet Please melteth,/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth”, there is a repeated ‘t’ sound. This creates a calming effect. As these lines talk about Fancy, or the imagination, the reader is given the impression that the ability to daydream will calm an individual, or set them at ease, from the busy rush of daily life. The use of anaphora to repeat these two lines in the final stanza of the poem reinforces Fancy’s ability to act as an escape.
Imagery is used to enforce the point that even the imagination can become limited when it is not let loose every now and then. Keats uses nature, an important value of the Romantics, to express this idea. For example, he references the season, “Summer’s joys are spoilt by use,/ And the enjoying of the Spring/ Fades as does its blossoming;/ Autumn’s red-lipp’d fruitage too,/ Blushing through the mist and dew,/ Cloys with tasting: What do then?”. As autumn’s fruit becomes cloying rathe than satisfying, we gain the impression of an exhausting luxury. Keats uses this imagery to explain how the creative mind can become unsatisfying over a period of time where it is used for the same thing repeatedly and not let free, like the fruit of autumn can become plain if the same thing is eaten over and over again.
The use of rhetorical questions, in particular “what do then?”, is directed to the audience. It has them wonder about Fancy’s limitations and if it really can become stale like the seasons which Keats has presented to us. Each question, though it is not to be answered, triggers an imaginative response by the reader as they try to think of an answer for what happens to imagination when it loses its power to inform, transform and illuminate an individual.
Alliteration is used throughout the poem at various stages. The alliteration slows down the pace at which is it read. For example, “buds and bells…self-same shower…with a waist and with a side”. The slowed pace mimics Fancy’s power to affect an individual reducing over time if it is used frequently for the same purpose. The simple rhyming scheme shows that Keats believes that his resolution to re-energise Fancy is simple and right in front of every individual. The use of ABAB rhyme is almost child-like, “EVER let the Fancy roam,/ Pleasure never is at home:/ At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;”. This reinforces his idea that in order to keep the creative mind alive, is to let it free and wander, which is simple, but not many people realise it.
Although he sees imagination’s freedom as a simple task, he knows that some people have trouble letting it go as they want to nurture it. He tries to convince the audience that it is the best thing for them to do as, “Fancy, high-commission’d:- send her!/ She has vassals to attend her”, meaning that it does not have to be tended to as it has its own servants looking after her. Following this statement, Keats explains that by letting it free, Fancy will return with something new and beneficial for the individual and will aid their escape from everyday life, “She will bring, in spite of frost,/ Beauties that the earth hath lost;/ She will bring thee, all together,/ All delights of summer weather…” During the Romantic era, there were many changes in society. The Industrial Revolution is one such example. This introduction of new machinery and factories led to the destruction of nature from the land clearing to pollution of smoke and chemicals. Though the Romantics valued these advances in technology, they disliked their destructive impact on the natural world.
Keats found the Industrial Revolution to be mundane in society. He believed that by using the imagination through daydreaming, one could escape the less positive things in society. “Fancy” shows this through its setting and bird imagery. The poem is set in winter, “The sear faggot blazes bright,/ Spirit of a winter’s night;/ When the soundless earth is muffled,/ And the caked snow is shuffled/ From the ploughboy’s heavy shoon;/ When the Night doth meet the Noon/ In a dark conspiracy”. Winter, in literature, represents death, depression, tragedy, etc. Here, winter represents the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Keats introduces the idea that fancy can become limited as reason and rationality (due to the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment) can cloud the imagination’s power. He believes one should let it be free, “Open wide the mind’s cage-door,/ She’ll dart forth, and cloudward soar…Sit thee there, and send abroad,/ With a mind self-overawed,” like a bird to escape the mundane life and broaden its power to inform, illuminate and transform an individual. - Courtney West What are the tenets of Romanticism explored in this poem and what techniques are used to do so? How are the ways of thinking in this period evident in this poem?
The tenets of Romanticism explored within this poem appear to be mainly focused on the Imagination, more specifically the ways which the imagination enables an individual escape from daily routines or political concerns with changes in society.
Following that idea, Keats promotes the idea that by letting “Fancy”, which is personified as Keats’ female Muse, or the Imagination, free, an individual is able to open up new possibilities inherently offered by imagination. This action would inform, illuminate, and transform the individual, offering them new ways to escape from their context.
In this sense, Keats comments on the Industrial Revolution, a major influence of this period. The most obvious example which demonstrates this is undoubtedly the setting of the poem - in the dead of winter. He claims winter to be a time “when the Night doth meet the Noon/ in a dark conspiracy / to banish Even from her sky”. Winter is a time wherein the evening no longer exists - it has been banished by the night meeting the noon, where night falls so quickly and so early in the day that there seems to have been no evening at all. By personifying the night and the noon as co-conspirators trying to banish the evening, it adds a ominous tone to the poem, and establishes winter as the season that the effects of the Industrial Revolution is most painfully felt. It is only at such a time “when the soundless earth is muffled/ and the caked snow is shuffled...” that the bleak nature of the winter season and the loneliness which often ensues is highlighted - similar to the effects of the Industrial Revolution, where every step taken towards machinery, factories and furious mechanizing meant a step further from what was truly important in life - not the money or wealth one accumulates, but the companionship and company which other fellow humans offer. This supports Peter Throslev’s ideas in The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism, where he suggests that “In a society whose practices and beliefs constituted a denial of human imagination and creativity, it was the poets' role to keep open a sense of alternative possibility.” In this poem, Keats suggests that through the imagination, one can transcend this loneliness in this ‘winter’ of the Industrial Revolution, and by letting Fancy free, explore the other seasons where Nature has much more beautiful, more pleasant things to offer you. Keats also thus encourages the reader not to give up, but instead to look forth at the possibilites awaiting one at the end of this imaginative journey. However, before any action can truly be undertaken, Keats is aware that some may be uncertain about the true capability of Fancy. He reassured them for “Fancy, high-commission’d: - send her!/ She has vassals to attend her:/ She will being, in spite of frost/ Beauties that the earth hath lost”. This thus reinforces Keats’s message that Fancy, has its own servants, its own support so to speak, and does not need one to ‘protect it’ from the brutal reality. Instead, by letting Fancy free, Fancy will revitalize ones world, bringing back all that has been lost to frost like the “red-lipp’d fruitage” of Autumn.
Keats claims that “Every thing is spoilt by use”, comparing reality towards the imagination, where he uses rhetorical questions to emphasize the impermanence of life. The imagery in these rhetorical questions are poignant - he asks “where’s the cheek that doth not fade/ too much gazed at?... the maid whose lip mature is ever new?/... the eye, however blue/ doth not weary?... the voice, however soft/ one would hear so very oft?” With a few simple, direct phrases, Keats provokes the reader to think about their own experiences, where the beauty of the young fades away with age, where the faces that one sees becomes the same that “one would meet in every place”. This repetition and constant questions reinforces the idea that its only in the Imagination where things can be kept new, and through provoking though, causes the reader to be informed, illuminated and transformed by it.
Furthermore, Keats also repeats the lines “At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth”. The assonance and alliteration in these lines only add towards the lyrical tone of the poem, and emphasizes its rhyming scheme, evident throughout. The lines create an internal rhythm in the poem, creating the imagery of rain for the reader who is then encouraged to reflect back, using Fancy/ the Imagination. Any previous experiences that may have been dulled are revitalized for Fancy has opened up new possibilities which Imagination so easily offers.
Fancy, or the imagination, then becomes a medium which frees an individual, enabling you too fulfill your desire for change. This is particularly evident when Keats talks about letting “winged Fancy find/ thee a mistress to thy mind.” Here, he is trying to tell the reader that instead of the cool, brutal reality of one’s partner now where things are stuck in an never-ending cycle, the imagination, Fancy is still able to help one find freedom, like a mistress with whom one can indulge fantasies otherwise frowned upon. The following allusions in later lines to Greek or Roman mythical goddesses comment upon ideal qualities which women should have - being “dulcet-eyed as Ceres’ daughter” (the daughter of Ceres whose daughter Proserpina was abducted by the Lord of the Underworld) instead of frowning and chiding; “with a waist and a side white as Hebe’s”. These emphasizes the Romantics desire for change in a purely superficial manner, where a Utopia of sorts is envisioned. The reader, as does the poet, is aware that such Utopias where an ideal partner as beautiful as Hebes, or as demure as Ceres’ daughter is very unlikely, but they can still indulge this desire for change, for illumination and individuality in their imaginations. They can thus find the strength, from their imagination, to persevere with their lives within societal norms and customs, or choose to reclaim their individuality with greater knowledge, being informed, illuminated and transformed and are then able to “break the mesh of the Fancy’s silken leash” and “let winged Fancy roam”. - Jacintha Lee
Please Note: TENETS(a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true; especially: one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession) not tenants ( one who rents or leases (as a house) from a landlord) of Romanticism
Imagination is explained in the poem. Keats focuses on the importance of using the creative mind as an escape from daily routine, however, if it is used too often, it becomes stale and of no use. Keats also comments that one should let the imagination free ever once in a while to gain new experiences so that when it returns, it will inform, illuminate and transform the individual in a different way, “Then let winged Fancy wander/ Through the though still spread beyond her:/ Open wide the mind’s cage-door,/ She’ll dart forth, cloudward soar./ O sweet Fancy! Let her loose;/ Summer’s joys are spoilt by use”.
In the lines, “At a touch sweet Please melteth,/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth”, there is a repeated ‘t’ sound. This creates a calming effect. As these lines talk about Fancy, or the imagination, the reader is given the impression that the ability to daydream will calm an individual, or set them at ease, from the busy rush of daily life. The use of anaphora to repeat these two lines in the final stanza of the poem reinforces Fancy’s ability to act as an escape.
Imagery is used to enforce the point that even the imagination can become limited when it is not let loose every now and then. Keats uses nature, an important value of the Romantics, to express this idea. For example, he references the season, “Summer’s joys are spoilt by use,/ And the enjoying of the Spring/ Fades as does its blossoming;/ Autumn’s red-lipp’d fruitage too,/ Blushing through the mist and dew,/ Cloys with tasting: What do then?”. As autumn’s fruit becomes cloying rathe than satisfying, we gain the impression of an exhausting luxury. Keats uses this imagery to explain how the creative mind can become unsatisfying over a period of time where it is used for the same thing repeatedly and not let free, like the fruit of autumn can become plain if the same thing is eaten over and over again.
The use of rhetorical questions, in particular “what do then?”, is directed to the audience. It has them wonder about Fancy’s limitations and if it really can become stale like the seasons which Keats has presented to us. Each question, though it is not to be answered, triggers an imaginative response by the reader as they try to think of an answer for what happens to imagination when it loses its power to inform, transform and illuminate an individual.
Alliteration is used throughout the poem at various stages. The alliteration slows down the pace at which is it read. For example, “buds and bells…self-same shower…with a waist and with a side”. The slowed pace mimics Fancy’s power to affect an individual reducing over time if it is used frequently for the same purpose.
The simple rhyming scheme shows that Keats believes that his resolution to re-energise Fancy is simple and right in front of every individual. The use of ABAB rhyme is almost child-like, “EVER let the Fancy roam,/ Pleasure never is at home:/ At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;”. This reinforces his idea that in order to keep the creative mind alive, is to let it free and wander, which is simple, but not many people realise it.
Although he sees imagination’s freedom as a simple task, he knows that some people have trouble letting it go as they want to nurture it. He tries to convince the audience that it is the best thing for them to do as, “Fancy, high-commission’d:- send her!/ She has vassals to attend her”, meaning that it does not have to be tended to as it has its own servants looking after her. Following this statement, Keats explains that by letting it free, Fancy will return with something new and beneficial for the individual and will aid their escape from everyday life, “She will bring, in spite of frost,/ Beauties that the earth hath lost;/ She will bring thee, all together,/ All delights of summer weather…”
During the Romantic era, there were many changes in society. The Industrial Revolution is one such example. This introduction of new machinery and factories led to the destruction of nature from the land clearing to pollution of smoke and chemicals. Though the Romantics valued these advances in technology, they disliked their destructive impact on the natural world.
Keats found the Industrial Revolution to be mundane in society. He believed that by using the imagination through daydreaming, one could escape the less positive things in society. “Fancy” shows this through its setting and bird imagery. The poem is set in winter, “The sear faggot blazes bright,/ Spirit of a winter’s night;/ When the soundless earth is muffled,/ And the caked snow is shuffled/ From the ploughboy’s heavy shoon;/ When the Night doth meet the Noon/ In a dark conspiracy”. Winter, in literature, represents death, depression, tragedy, etc. Here, winter represents the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Keats introduces the idea that fancy can become limited as reason and rationality (due to the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment) can cloud the imagination’s power. He believes one should let it be free, “Open wide the mind’s cage-door,/ She’ll dart forth, and cloudward soar…Sit thee there, and send abroad,/ With a mind self-overawed,” like a bird to escape the mundane life and broaden its power to inform, illuminate and transform an individual.
- Courtney West
What are the tenets of Romanticism explored in this poem and what techniques are used to do so? How are the ways of thinking in this period evident in this poem?
The tenets of Romanticism explored within this poem appear to be mainly focused on the Imagination, more specifically the ways which the imagination enables an individual escape from daily routines or political concerns with changes in society.
Following that idea, Keats promotes the idea that by letting “Fancy”, which is personified as Keats’ female Muse, or the Imagination, free, an individual is able to open up new possibilities inherently offered by imagination. This action would inform, illuminate, and transform the individual, offering them new ways to escape from their context.
In this sense, Keats comments on the Industrial Revolution, a major influence of this period. The most obvious example which demonstrates this is undoubtedly the setting of the poem - in the dead of winter. He claims winter to be a time “when the Night doth meet the Noon/ in a dark conspiracy / to banish Even from her sky”. Winter is a time wherein the evening no longer exists - it has been banished by the night meeting the noon, where night falls so quickly and so early in the day that there seems to have been no evening at all. By personifying the night and the noon as co-conspirators trying to banish the evening, it adds a ominous tone to the poem, and establishes winter as the season that the effects of the Industrial Revolution is most painfully felt. It is only at such a time “when the soundless earth is muffled/ and the caked snow is shuffled...” that the bleak nature of the winter season and the loneliness which often ensues is highlighted - similar to the effects of the Industrial Revolution, where every step taken towards machinery, factories and furious mechanizing meant a step further from what was truly important in life - not the money or wealth one accumulates, but the companionship and company which other fellow humans offer. This supports Peter Throslev’s ideas in The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism, where he suggests that “In a society whose practices and beliefs constituted a denial of human imagination and creativity, it was the poets' role to keep open a sense of alternative possibility.” In this poem, Keats suggests that through the imagination, one can transcend this loneliness in this ‘winter’ of the Industrial Revolution, and by letting Fancy free, explore the other seasons where Nature has much more beautiful, more pleasant things to offer you. Keats also thus encourages the reader not to give up, but instead to look forth at the possibilites awaiting one at the end of this imaginative journey.
However, before any action can truly be undertaken, Keats is aware that some may be uncertain about the true capability of Fancy. He reassured them for “Fancy, high-commission’d: - send her!/ She has vassals to attend her:/ She will being, in spite of frost/ Beauties that the earth hath lost”. This thus reinforces Keats’s message that Fancy, has its own servants, its own support so to speak, and does not need one to ‘protect it’ from the brutal reality. Instead, by letting Fancy free, Fancy will revitalize ones world, bringing back all that has been lost to frost like the “red-lipp’d fruitage” of Autumn.
Keats claims that “Every thing is spoilt by use”, comparing reality towards the imagination, where he uses rhetorical questions to emphasize the impermanence of life. The imagery in these rhetorical questions are poignant - he asks “where’s the cheek that doth not fade/ too much gazed at?... the maid whose lip mature is ever new?/... the eye, however blue/ doth not weary?... the voice, however soft/ one would hear so very oft?” With a few simple, direct phrases, Keats provokes the reader to think about their own experiences, where the beauty of the young fades away with age, where the faces that one sees becomes the same that “one would meet in every place”. This repetition and constant questions reinforces the idea that its only in the Imagination where things can be kept new, and through provoking though, causes the reader to be informed, illuminated and transformed by it.
Furthermore, Keats also repeats the lines “At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth/ Like to bubbles when rain pelteth”. The assonance and alliteration in these lines only add towards the lyrical tone of the poem, and emphasizes its rhyming scheme, evident throughout. The lines create an internal rhythm in the poem, creating the imagery of rain for the reader who is then encouraged to reflect back, using Fancy/ the Imagination. Any previous experiences that may have been dulled are revitalized for Fancy has opened up new possibilities which Imagination so easily offers.
Fancy, or the imagination, then becomes a medium which frees an individual, enabling you too fulfill your desire for change. This is particularly evident when Keats talks about letting “winged Fancy find/ thee a mistress to thy mind.” Here, he is trying to tell the reader that instead of the cool, brutal reality of one’s partner now where things are stuck in an never-ending cycle, the imagination, Fancy is still able to help one find freedom, like a mistress with whom one can indulge fantasies otherwise frowned upon. The following allusions in later lines to Greek or Roman mythical goddesses comment upon ideal qualities which women should have - being “dulcet-eyed as Ceres’ daughter” (the daughter of Ceres whose daughter Proserpina was abducted by the Lord of the Underworld) instead of frowning and chiding; “with a waist and a side white as Hebe’s”. These emphasizes the Romantics desire for change in a purely superficial manner, where a Utopia of sorts is envisioned. The reader, as does the poet, is aware that such Utopias where an ideal partner as beautiful as Hebes, or as demure as Ceres’ daughter is very unlikely, but they can still indulge this desire for change, for illumination and individuality in their imaginations. They can thus find the strength, from their imagination, to persevere with their lives within societal norms and customs, or choose to reclaim their individuality with greater knowledge, being informed, illuminated and transformed and are then able to “break the mesh of the Fancy’s silken leash” and “let winged Fancy roam”.
- Jacintha Lee
Please Note: TENETS (a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true; especially : one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession) not tenants ( one who rents or leases (as a house) from a landlord) of Romanticism